Hydrocarbon-furnace.



PATENTED JUN EV, 1904.

W. B. GIBBS. HYDROGARBON FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18. 1902.

2 sHnBTs sHEnT 1.

N0 MODEL.

lNVENTO/Y w l y BY .fi "a.

ATTORNEYS,

4 0 9 1 7 E N U .J D E T N E T A P S B B I G E W 7 4 2 6 7 0 N HYDROOARBON FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.18. 1902.

No MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOI'? ATTORNEYS.

[ MHQWZM Patented June 7, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. GIBBS, OF FANNOOD, NEIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALF TO HENRY BERG, OF ORANGE VALLEY, NEW JERSEY,

HY-DROCARBO'N-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 762,047, dated June .7, 1904.

Application filed April 18, 1902. Serial No. 103,566. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. GIBBs, acitizen of the United States, residing at Fanwood, in the county of Union, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydrocarbon-Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore hydrocarbon-burners have been developed along two lines. In one class are burners in which the hydrocarbon is vaporized in a retort heated by the burner itself and the vapor from said retort is led through tubing to a jet from which it issues, thence flowing into a tube or chamber constructed on the principle of a Bunsen burner. The combustion of the vapor, together with the air which it has drawn in by reason of the injector action of the Bunsen tube, takes place at openings of various forms remote from the point of injection of the vapor. This constitutes a true Bunsen burner, fed by the vapor of a Volatile liquid. While excellent results are obtained with such liquids as alcohol, gasolene, and benzene, the heavier hydrocarbons, such as crude petroleum and kerosene-oil, cannot be successfully used. In the attempt to vaporize them they are split up in the retort into various other substances and carbon is deposited rapidly on the sides of the retort, soon choking the inlet and exit passages thereof. Moreover, in starting such a burner it is necessary to bring the retort to a temperature approaching redness in order to evolve suflicient vapor for combustion. This operation takes a much longer time and a more power- 1 ful torch or similar appliance for starting the burner than is required in those using more volatile fluids. For these reasons this form of burner has not proved satisfactory. In the second class of burners a jet of steam or air injects a spray of oil by means of an atomizing-nozzle into a combustion-chamber, where the spray is mixed with air and burned. In some cases the air which supports combustion is carried over heated surfaces before reaching the spray, and the oil-supply pipe is also heated by the burner itself. The flame in this case, however, is white in color and burns with a roar, making its use impracticable for automobiles or pleasure vehicles of any kind. In these two classes, then, burners have been employed using volatile liquids injected into a combustion-chamber or its equivalent, but attempts to use burners of the first class upon heavier oils have failed.

In my present invention I obviate the necessity of a vaporizing-retort by injecting a spray of atomized heavy oil into a current of highly-heated air. The finely-divided particles of the spray are dissolved and absorbed by the entering column of air and by it carried to apertures remote from the injector, where it is burned as a noiseless blue flame resembling the ordinary Bunsen gas-flame. The details of the apparatusIhave designed for accomplishing this purpose will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is an elevation, partly in vertical section, of ahydrocarbon-furnace constructed in accordance with my invention, the invention being shown in shape adapted to the heating of a series of coils of pipe for a flash-boiler. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l, different parts, however, being shown in sectional plane. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the burner on the linea of Figs. 1 and v 3, looking downward on the burner proper.

The burner proper is indicated at 1, its preferred shape being as shown-that is to say, consisting of a, hollow casting having (see Fig. 4;) a series of radial arms 2 with rightangular extensions 8 of such number and dimensions as to substantially fill the horizontal spaces in the combustion-chamber except for such intervening spaces between the arms as shall be required for the admission of the necessary amount of air to the flames. All of the arms 2 3 have on their upper surfaces slots or holes 2, communicating with the interior chambers of the arms and adapted to allow the passage of the heated mixture of oil-vapor and air. The under surface of the several arms is inclined downward toward a drainage-pocket 4, provided at the center of the burner.

Communicating with the interior of the hollow burner proper, 1, is a vaporizing and mixing chamber 5, ordinarily known as a Bunsen tube, to which mixed oil-spray and air are injected by means of the atomizer 6. This, as shown, is of the usual form, having the outlet 7, the regulating needle-valve 8, the oil=port 9, and the air-port 10. 11 is the supply pipe for air under pressure, which serves to atomize and inject the oil. This pipe is led from any suitable source of compressed air through the spaces between two of the arms of the burner proper and carried spirally around the Bunsen tube 5, as shown. At its upper part it connects with and discharges into the port 10. The oil-supply tube 12, connecting with the oil-port 9, is also carried round the Bunsen tube 5, being preferably laid round the upper part of said tube in alternate spirals with the air-supply tube 11, as more fully shown in Fig. 1. tube 12 is led from a suitable source of supply 13.

Between the walls of the double casing 1 1 15 of the burner is formed a chamber 15, to which air is admitted by an annular inletopening 16 at the bottom thereof and is supplied to the Bunsen tube through apertures 17, surrounding the injecting-nozzle. Products of combustion are discharged through the stack 18, which passes through the two walls 14 15. Between the inner wall 14c and the central tube is a space 1 1 for the pipe of the flash-boiler (not shown) or other object to be heated.

Connecting with the base of the drainagepocket are two or more wick-tubes 19, in which wicks may be placed for supplying pilot-flames to the main burner and which are fed by the drainage-oil in said pocket. Immediately over said pocket is arranged a baffle-plate 20, which receives the direct downward rush of vapor and air from the injector to still further intermingle the same and to deflect it into the arms. An overflow-pipe 21, leading from the drainage-pocket, determines the level of oil in said pocket and is led to any suitable reservoir for oil.

The operation of the furnace is as follows: A small quantity of oil is placed in the drainage-pocket 4, (either by temporarily opening the needle-valve or by pouring in through a suitable opening in one of the arms 2 3,) and the wicks occupying the tubes 19 are lighted to act as pilot-flames. 1V hen it is desired to start the main burner, the needle-valve 8 is opened, allowing air to enter the atomizer and to issue at the nozzle 7, in which process it carries with it by injector action a certain quantity of oil from the reservoir 13 and throws it in the form of a line spray into Bunsen tube 5. Some of the oil is projected against and is condensed upon the walls of the tube 5 and trickles down into the main burner and thence into the drainage-pocket 4:, but sufficient is held in suspension by the inrush- The oiling air from the nozzle 7 and from the open ings 17 to issue as a combustible mixture at the slots 2 of the burner proper, 1, where it is ignited by the pilot-flames. As the parts become heated by the flames produced as aforesaid the air in tube 11, the oil in tube 12, and the air entering the apertures 17 in the Bunsen tube through the annular passage 15 become highly heated, and the activity of the burner is greatly increased. When all these conditions of heat reach a maximum, the injected oil is entirely absorbed and dissolved by the inrushing current of hot air, and the flames issuing from the slots in the main burner 1 attain their maximum efficiency and heating power. The air entering the atomizer through tube 11 is very highly heated and assists materially in vaporizing the oil as it issues from the atomizer, so that the spray which at the beginning of the operation is somewhat coarse and plainly visible becomes after a short time a finely-divided bluish vapor, which does not condense, butis carried unchanged to the point of combustion, where it is burned with a blue flame evenly distributed over the whole burner-surface.

It will be seen that no previous heating of retorts or vaporizing-chambers is required in this furnace. Neither is it necessary to store the liquid hydrocarbon under pressure, since the atomizer is capable of lifting the oil through the pipe 12 to a considerable height and throwing it into the tube 5 as a spray. Closing the valve 8 instantly interrupts the action of the burner, which may be started again immediately upon opening the same valve by reason of the pilot-flames reigniting the combustible mixture as it issues from the main burner.

I prefer the vertical form ofthe Bunsen tube 5, because oil deposited upon its walls drains immediately into the pocket 4, and after the burner has been in operation until the tube 5 is thoroughly heated no oil is deposited on its walls. With a horizontal Bunsen tube the condensed oil collects in the tube and gives off a heavy ill-smelling vapor after the burner is extinguished.

When kerosene is used as the fuel, as the spontaneous-eombustion point of its vapor is lower than that of gasolenc, it is important to prevent flashing in the Bunsen tube either by flashing back through the burner proper or by direct ignition from the overheated condition of any of the walls surrounding the vapor. To prevent the flashing back through the burner proper, the apertures 2 are made quite narrow, and the arms 2 3 are so made as to take up and distribute to the air entering the burner a large amount of heat, thus at the same time maintaining the metal of the burner at a comparatively low temperature and conserving the value of the heat by imparting it to the inflowing air. To this end the arms are made of heavy iron and of I prevent ignition of the vapor in the Bunsen tube, it is protected by the coils 11 and 12,

and it will be observed that the cooler end oftube 11 surrounds the Bunsen tube at the lower end, where the contained vapor having been most heated and most thoroughly intermingled is most liable to flashing. It will also be observed that the position of the outlets 2 is such as to prevent the flame from impinging on the lower part of the Bunsen tube.

It will be noticed that in this form of furnace the Bunsen tube is inverted, having the burner-outlets at the bottom instead of at the top, as in the usual form. By reason of this arrangement of parts the Bunsen tube, in which the admixture of vapor and air principally takes place, is directly heated by the flames and hot gases which rise around it, and the oil which in starting the burner is projected against its walls flows quickly into the drainage-pocket 4. The arms of the burner proper incline toward the central drainagepocket, thereby preventing the collection of oil therein. The reason for a complete system of drainage, as shown, is to prevent the retention of oil on the hot surfaces after the burner is extinguished.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a hydrocarbon-furnace, the combination of an atomizer 6, a coiled oil-supply pipe 12, a coiled pipe 11 for compressed air, a Bunsen tube constituting a mixing-chamber 5 surrounding at one end the atomizer 6 and extending therefrom within the coils of the compressed-air pipe 11 and oil-pipe 12, a hollow burner 1 communicating with the end of the mixing-chamber 5 remote from the atomizer 6 and consisting of a hollow body, a series of diverging arms 2 and transverse extensions 3 connected therewith, said arms 2, 3 being provided with numerous discharge-apertures 2 and having between them contracted spaces for passage of air to support combustion, a shell 14 surrounding the burner 1, Bunsen tube 5 and pipes 11 and 12 coiled thereon, and a flue 18 for discharge of products of combustion, whereby the heated vapor is ignited at izer 6 and consisting of a hollow body, a series of diverging arms 2 and transverse extensions 3 connected therewith, said arms 2, 3 being provided with numerous discharge-apertures 2 and having between them contracted spaces for passage of air to support combustion, a shell 14 surrounding the burner 1, Bunsen tube 5 and pipes 11 and 12 coiled thereon, a flue 18 for discharge of products of combustion, and the external casing 15 surrounding the casing 1 1 and providing an annular airchamber 15 with an inlet 16 at bottom and discharge-apertures 17 at top in proximity to the Bunsen nozzle 7 substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a hydrocarbon-furnace, the combination of a vertically-arranged Bunsen tube having means of spraying oil therein, a burner connected with and adapted to receive vapor from and heat said tube, a drainage-pocket arranged beneath said tube and burner proper and adapted to receive unvaporized oil therefrom, and Wick-tubes connecting with said pocket and entering the heating-space near said burner.

4:. In a hydrocarbon-furnace, the combination of a vertically-arranged Bunsen tube having means of spraying oil therein, a burner connected with and adapted to receive vapor from and heat said tube, a drainage-pocket arranged beneath said tube and burner proper and adapted to receive unvaporized oil therefrom, wick-tubes connecting with said pocket and entering the heating-space near said burner, and an overflow arranged to maintain a constant level of oil in said pocket.

NM. E. GIBBS.

Witnesses:

J GREEN, WM. P. HAMMOND. 

